Spring has Sprung

It was a beautiful day in Ottawa. It looks like Spring has finally arrived. Good thing I have the day off tomorrow to enjoy the sunshine. I'm already getting geared up for Ultimate and beach volleyball but right now I'm trying to evaluate how I spend my time. I'm always on the go to one sport or activity or another and sometimes this causes either a lack of sleep or a procrastination to do necessary tasks. The simplest example is cleaning. I just put off things like doing the dishes for too long some weeks because whenever I finally get home from wherever I am that day, I just want to relax a bit and play a game or read a book. Unfortunately, by relaxing, I use up the little time I spend at home not doing work that needs to get done. Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try and organize my time better or motivate myself to do some more work around the house when I do have the time? All that being said, I don't live in a total sty and I do get things done...eventually. I'm just somewhat unhappy with myself when it comes to some of the things I know I have to do but always put off. Guess that's just a side effect of a busy life.

Monday update on Tuesday

Yeah, I'm late a day...so what. I'm still recovering from the weekend. I was out all weekend, mostly at the hockey rink. I did 10 games in 3 days (and only one was on Sunday). And to top it off, I also patrolled on Sunday and curled (we won our last game of the regular season, yay). So yeah, I'm a little tired and I have a wicked headache. So yeah, this post is short and late but I'm just too tired and beat up to worry about it. Don't get me wrong though, I did enjoy most of the weekend, it's just the after effects that I don't like. Hope everyone's weekend went well too.

Here's the link of the week. Quick little video clip from MADTV with some Mac and political humor rolled into one: http://www.glumbert.com/media/irack

V-Ball Week

This week was filled with volleyball. Tons of volleyball. Monday, we won 4-1, yesterday my B-team won 5-0 (as usual), and tonight my A-team won another match 4-1. Both teams are first in their tiers and we'll be getting a bye in the first round of the playoffs (which start after next week). Boy am I tired after all that hitting. Luckily, I have tomorrow off so I can get caught up on my sleep and get some cleaning done around the apartment.

Oh, and for those that haven't seen 300 yet...go see it, especially if you like war/action movies with some gore. If you're a woman (or a guy) who doesn't like that kind of movie, you can pass and go to one of the chick flicks out right now instead. Or coming tomorrow...TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)!! Sweet!! I've been told it's a good new rendition. I can't wait to see it.

Well, off to bed now. I'm beat. Enjoy the weekend!

Quiet St. Patty's Day Weekend

Well, as shocking as it may sound, I didn't make it out anywhere for St. Patrick's Day this year. While everyone was out drinking and having a good time, I stayed home, watched the hockey game and went to bed. Not overly exciting but I was feeling tired and had to ski the next morning so it just didn't seem like a good idea to go out. Yesterday at the ski hill was also the Snow Snake Day. It's just a bunch of activities at the hill as almost a wrap up party (just in case the snow doesn't last much longer, which it won't). The day culminates with the water skimming competition. Basically, skiers and snowboarders trying to work up enough speed from the last pitch of the main hill to skim across a pool of water 100 ft long and about 15 ft wide. It was quite amusing to watch but unfortunately I didn't catch the final few runs because a girl broke her arm and since I wasn't helping around the pool, I got to go with Ali and deal with the broken arm instead of watching the people faceplant into the icy cold water. Good fun though (not the broken arm, the water skimming).

So you like StarWars, well, the links of the week are a couple of funny/neat videos that these two guys put together of them having lightsaber fights. They're both quite well done. Enjoy!
Ryan Vs. Dorkman
Ryan Vs. Dorkman2

Squashed

Well, I've been bitten by the squash bug again. Mike and I went and played last night at the courts in Anne-Marie's apartment building. The courts are a little short but since I haven't played in over a year, I didn't notice much. It didn't take too long for me to get back into it either. I even gave Mike (who plays pretty much every week) a run for his money and won a set 2-1 (best of 3 games). He still ran me pretty good though and I was thoroughly tired last night. I also got a bit of a shin splint (cramp in the shin/ankle) but only in my left leg. Wierd. Anyway, I'm definitely back into the raquet sport stuff. I can't wait to play again and to start playing tennis again too. Spring is just around the corner. I think the ski season is almost done since most of the snow disappeared (at least in the city) this week with the warm temperatures and little bit of rain we had on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Quick last point: won another $40 at poker tonight, but it was mostly due to luck rather than really good play. It seems that we've attracted a few new bodies to the poker circle so hopefully we can have a week with a big enough turnout for a tournament soon. And hopefully my luck carries over to the Super 7 lotto tomorrow (I have a couple free tickets from last week when I bought a ticket on a whim).

Curling Thievery

So we won another curling match (that's two back to back for those that are counting)! It all started with an end with a 3-point steal. Then we stole 2 the next end. Then stole one, and another. After 4 ends we were already ahead 7-0. Then they managed to get a couple and steal a few in the 6th (and last) end but we already had built up that insurmountable lead. Yay for us. I didn't shoot particularly well but I made a couple nice draws and a really important raise of one of our guards in the first couple ends to ensure the robbery that went on. Points were being stolen all over the place.

Other than curling I was, as aforementioned, crazy busy. I skied both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday ended up being a bit of a crap shoot since it rained in the morning and was kind of crummy but there were a lot of patrollers up and we had a pot luck at night (cabane a sucre, or sugar shack to us English folk, themed). I made a cake that was less than stellar but still quite edible. Sunday however, was very nice. Even though I was on race patrol for most of the day, it was a beautiful day to be outside so I didn't mind. Then after curling yesterday, I went over to Wei's for a Chinese fondue. It was a deliciously good time.

Well, I'm still burnt out from the weekend and the time change so I'm heading to bed. Hopefully I don't sleep in past the start of French class tomorrow. Oh, and here's the link(s) of the week, in keeping with the skiing theme from the weekend:

Mont Cascades
Canadian Ski Patrol System (Gatineau Zone)

Stupid Juvenile hockey

So I was all set to have a pretty quiet evening tonight. I'd stop by my ref meeting for half an hour or so but otherwise, it was looking like I might get a night where I actually spent time at home doing...well, whatever I want but preferably nothing. Don't get me wrong, I like staying busy but sometimes I need a break. Anyway, I got a phone call during poker last night and my ref assignor pulled me into reffing a Juvenile game tonight. For those that don't know, Juvenile is what comes after Midget in the hockey levels, so the guys are 19 and 20. Usually it's pretty laid back but has some decently skilled players that are just looking to continue playing hockey. Sometimes though, you get the odd occational idiot that just can't seem to stop whining or loses it for no good reason. Tonight brought both situations out. Why, when a player gets a penalty for something obvious, like clipping the goalie, does he feel like he has to complain? He knows it won't do him any good (in this case it got him tossed for continuing for so long and so loudly). And why can't a team just accept a goal scored late in the game that might put them away? Why does the defense feel like he has to punch out the guy who made a nice play to pull the puck back in front and score on an out of position goalie? Of course this started a "fight" and then everyone but the goalies got into it. Since it's near the end of the season and almost no real punches were thrown, I decided to be nice and only call a few minor penalties instead of kicking them all out. You would think the players would accept this but no, they have to complain about every little thing. Okay, I'm done ranting for now. I just don't understand the stupidity of some players when you either cut them some slack or when something painfully obvious happens and they just can't let it go.

Other than tonight's hockey game, it's been a good week. I won at poker again last night (both by playing well and by hitting some good cards) and I won the payday 50/50 at work! Granted the 50/50 was only $23 but hey, I won for once, and that's what counts. I was feeling lucky so while filling up on gas (at some crazy prices) I thought I'd go in for a couple Super 7 tickets too for the $15 million jackpot. We'll see how far this luck really goes; I may be pushing it.

This weekend looks to be pretty busy with ski patrol on Saturday and Sunday (race patrol on Sunday) as well as a pot luck at the hill on Saturday. I also have curling as usual and then a Chinese fondue Sunday night. Should be busy but a lot of fun. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Not much to report

It was a nice quiet weekend with only one reffing game, curling, and then volleyball tonight. The only other thing of consequence I did was pick up Anne-Marie and Jay from the airport (which took a good 2 hour wait for the late arrival and customs). At least we had a good sushi dinner afterwards. On another note (that I wasn't going to bring up yet but I may as well), I put in my 60 days' notice to leave my apartment. It's a good apartment; quiet, beautiful view, relatively spacious; but it's a little more expensive than I'd like and it was unbearably hot last summer and I'd rather not go through that again. Right now I'm looking at a few alternatives, one which involves moving in with a friend from pool who just bought her own place downtown in the fall. She'd like to save some money and thought of getting a roommate. I'm not totally committed to the idea yet but it has its upsides. You'll probably hear more about this as it goes on. I should be in a new place of somekind (maybe even a cardboard box) by May 1st. If anyone in Ottawa has any other suggestions on where to move, let me know.

Link of the week this week is a funny site but it has a little more crude humor than some readers can stand. If you like the stupid stuff, check out Pointless Waste of Time (PWOT). In particular, if you like video games, check out their latest article, "The 12 Awesomest Games of 2010". Also look at the daily "Craption" contest where you can submit funny quotes to wierd pictures. Good stuff. Until Thursday (barring some exciting event in the next 2 days).

Poker is fun

Well, it was the semi-regular weekly poker game today. I've managed to be up a considerable amount 3 out of the last 4 times we've played. I'd say my luck is turning around but I don't want to jinx it. I also had a few people from work over a little earlier to just hang out and drink and eat a bit. It was fun to just relax and chat with some friends for once. We never seem to really do that much anymore outside of work. Anyway, I'm dog tired and I still have French in the morning so I'd better get to bed. There's also a lot of snow coming our way so it could be an interesting day tomorrow.